The present invention relates generally to the field of headphones, and in particular to, to a new and useful headphone arrangement for listing to externally generated sound such a prerecorded or broadcast music from an external device such as an MP3 player or radio, or for listening to a variety of pleasant or soothing sounds such as rainfall, which are stored in the arrangement, and for actively reducing outside noise, with or without the external or soothing sounds.
Sound conditioners are know which camouflage undesirable noise by generating pleasant sounds such as white noise, or natural sounds like ocean sound, summer night sounds, rain or rain forest sounds, waterfall sounds, a heartbeat, or other sounds that are selected to sooth the listener, for example, during bed timer to induce sleep. These devices are stand-alone units that are either battery powered or powered by wall current, and usually sit on a night stand or the like, for use during bed time, or to help calm an infant or child.
Know, non-active mechanisms for noise reduction are ear plugs and ear covers, for example, earmuffs that have noise blocking and absorbing qualities. Earmuffs generally include a resilient band that presses the arrangement against the sides of the users head to physically stop the noise from reaching the ear canal of the user.
Active noise cancellation techniques are also know which use a microphone on a headset for receiving the noise, and circuitry for generating a like signal but with opposing phase. This opposing-phase signal is then supplied to a speaker in the headset and serves to cancel at least some of the noise by the destructive interference. Other active noise reduction, attenuation or abatement techniques are also know.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,074 to Bose discloses headphones have a small cavity between a diaphragm and the ear canal with a microphone in the cavity and a feedback signal that is combined with an input electrical signal to be reproduced by the headphones to provide a combined signal that is power amplified for driving the diaphragm and reduces outside noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,581 to Sapiejewski discloses a headphone apparatus which includes a microphone that is off set from a central axis of the headphone cushion, but which extends parallel to this axis for improving the noise reduction capacity of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,542 to Sapiejewski discloses a headphone apparatus which includes a driver having a vibratile diaphragm. This diaphragm separates a front cavity from a rear cavity, and a layer of foam bounds the front cavity. The apparatus includes a baffle which supports the driver, a headphone cup and a cushion large enough to encompass the outer ear of a user of the headphone and to form a seal with the front cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,252 to Sapiejewski et al. discloses a headset with an ear cup having a front cavity and a rear cavity with a baffle separating the cavities from each other. A high compliance driver has a driver compliance that is greater than the rear cavity compliance. An active noise reducing circuitry is coupled to the driver.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,525 to Sapiejewski discloses a supra aural active noise reduction headphones including an earphone with an acoustical driver mounted within the internal cavity to reproduce sound for the user when driven by an audio signal. A cushion of these headphones has a passageway extending therethrough which acoustically connects the internal cavity to a user's ear canal when the cushion is resting on the user's ear while being worn by the user. The internal cavity has a total volume that is larger than about 10 cubic centimeters, and the driver is mounted in such a way as to avoid obstructing the passageway.
A need remains for a headphone arrangement which provides a used with an improved listening or even, silent experience over those available in the prior art.